Stratics Veteran

One of the things that puts me off is the movement. Do you remember the abomination that was the Kingdom Reborn client? It made movement look like you were skating on ice. Shards looks very similar and its a showstopper for me.

Another thing is the player cap. 128 max per server? Thats not the MMO experience Im looking for.

Gonna watch it myself... but I'm not buying in at silly prices as for SoTA goes.... I won't be giving Richard any of my money. I have no desire to play that.... besides I've not heard really good stuff from that.

Stratics Veteran

One of the things that puts me off is the movement. Do you remember the abomination that was the Kingdom Reborn client? It made movement look like you were skating on ice. Shards looks very similar and its a showstopper for me.

Another thing is the player cap. 128 max per server? Thats not the MMO experience Im looking for.

Click to expand...

128? Kinda sounds more like MO, less like MMO. Not necessarily a bad thing, remember Neverwinter Nights? Proved to be a very successful concept. But eh, doesn't look like my thing either.

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

Watched the videos and it has a real old school uo feel to me. Anyone been playing the beta with some insight?

Click to expand...

What is old school UO feel?
UO was the first of its kind. That's what makes it old school and gives it its 'feel'
You can never replicate it and why would anyone want to play something trying to be a duplicate?
I don't understand why anyone would want to try a 'new' game that feels like the classic game that just still happens to be around.
You think just because more people will initially play the new game it will be like old UO?
That's just plain silly.
Too many people get confused when it comes to nostalgia imo

Stratics VeteranStratics LegendCampaign Supporter

Another thing is the player cap. 128 max per server? Thats not the MMO experience Im looking for.

Click to expand...

Even if shards are capped at 128 (which has not yet been determined), there can be many more players in a cluster. You can think of a shard kind of like a zone, and multiple shards can be linked together in a cluster, so the theoretical maximum per server is actually 128 times the number of shards in the cluster.

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

One of the things that puts me off is the movement. Do you remember the abomination that was the Kingdom Reborn client? It made movement look like you were skating on ice. Shards looks very similar and its a showstopper for me.

Another thing is the player cap. 128 max per server? Thats not the MMO experience Im looking for.

Click to expand...

That would be a show stopper for me too if the movemenbt was like the EC is today...like u say skating on ice...gliding around like fish....... as for 128 max players per shard...Thats incredibly low...too.....would be quiet.....But to be fair very similar to some of our really low population shards today in UO...so if u play one of the really low population shards u will already know about this...

Stratics Veteran

I was a backer the first go round as well as the second and have had the chance to play around in it. Right now it's in very early pre-alpha, but even then it's in a more playable state than SotA was for a long time even after their KS campaign.

Where SotA is more of an Ultima-series based game with some online persistent aspects added to it, Shards will be more geared towards UO.

Playing Shards:

In the playtests I have been part of, there is already a feel of player advancement as skills are in the game and you get noticeably better as you gain them. Logrus is doing a great job at working on balancing combat much like the way UO was just before AOS (different armors having different qualities and drawbacks, weapons having different effects, etc). Anyone that played during the days of the Heavy and Light Archer suits will feel very comfortable.

I'm not a PvP player, anyone that's known me on these boards for a while knows this, however, at least on the Uearan (the Pre-Alpha shard) server, the PvP rules are actually quite fair. You keep your equipped items, but lose what you have in your backpack. The bottom portion of the world has guards running around to go after PvP attacks IF THEY SEE THEM. This means the starting encampment with the vendor and bank are safe as well as the main roadway, however off in the wilderness is more open. The upper portion is open PvP with a 3 team MOBA style system attached to it which can be fun.

Technically, while it's still early, it feels like Kingdom Reborn SHOULD HAVE FELT. Full isometric 3d not tied down to tiling or a static viewpoint. You can zoom in and out which tweaks the viewing angle slightly, and you can rotate the camera on the X axis which makes things look REALLY cool. It feels more like the original plans for KR than what ended up happening with the client.

Quite frankly, I backed the project initially BECAUSE of Draconi and Supreem being involved, but even better is the rest of the crew. They are great with the community (small as it may be right now) and we've all had a lot of fun in the playtests.

What is old school UO feel?
UO was the first of its kind. That's what makes it old school and gives it its 'feel'
You can never replicate it and why would anyone want to play something trying to be a duplicate?
I don't understand why anyone would want to try a 'new' game that feels like the classic game that just still happens to be around.
You think just because more people will initially play the new game it will be like old UO?
That's just plain silly.
Too many people get confused when it comes to nostalgia imo

Click to expand...

UO old school "feel" began with Ultima 7.
Danger and discovery....THATS uo old school feel !
They are "duplicating" uo, they are trying to "dupli-better" uo. I wish em goodluck.
I can help with your lack of understanding about the "new" game issue. The "new" game may have new and or different features, quite possibly some of the ones a lot of ex-players of said classic game thats still around might want, have wanted, or find out by surprise! (Example.....Guild Wars vs Guild Wars 2 altho I dunno about the "classic" tag).
You think just because you said you think, that you think you know what poster was thinking? Thats just plain silly. Stick to whats said/typed. Much easier to discuss than trying to mind read from a stratics post.

UO old school "feel" began with Ultima 7.
Danger and discovery....THATS uo old school feel !
They are "duplicating" uo, they are trying to "dupli-better" uo. I wish em goodluck.
I can help with your lack of understanding about the "new" game issue. The "new" game may have new and or different features, quite possibly some of the ones a lot of ex-players of said classic game thats still around might want, have wanted, or find out by surprise! (Example.....Guild Wars vs Guild Wars 2 altho I dunno about the "classic" tag).
You think just because you said you think, that you think you know what poster was thinking? Thats just plain silly. Stick to whats said/typed. Much easier to discuss than trying to mind read from a stratics post.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't say they are trying to duplicate UO, the basis of the game is completely different. Sure it's a Sandbox, and honestly it's more Sandbox than even UO has or ever will be. One of the major features is when you buy the game you are allowed to run and manage your own shard. You'll be able to create completely custom content for your shard, or modify existing content.

I've played a couple of the test sessions. Love it so far, except for those bears . I haven't really noticed problems with movement. Seems smooth and doesn't give me a headache. I love the housing plan. Having to actually build it, gives me hope for needed crafting skills. It is fun watching the game develop.

Stratics Veteran

When I refer to old school feel I really mean old school Ultima (Ultima 6! Best game ever made) I still remember my pirated floppy disc of uo6 and had no manual so I could not answer the questions to leave Lord British's castle.... Without looking it up answer these
What doth Trolls Lack?
What part of the tangle vine doth put one to sleep?
How wert the headlesses produced?
What valued item canst one find near the spawning grounds of Hydras?
How doth Sea Serpents attack?
How canst one fend off Rotworms?
How doth Giant Squids cruch their prey?
Where hath images of the Silver Serpent been seen?
What art reapers remnants of?

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

UO old school "feel" began with Ultima 7.
Danger and discovery....THATS uo old school feel !
They are "duplicating" uo, they are trying to "dupli-better" uo. I wish em goodluck.
I can help with your lack of understanding about the "new" game issue. The "new" game may have new and or different features, quite possibly some of the ones a lot of ex-players of said classic game thats still around might want, have wanted, or find out by surprise! (Example.....Guild Wars vs Guild Wars 2 altho I dunno about the "classic" tag).
You think just because you said you think, that you think you know what poster was thinking? Thats just plain silly. Stick to whats said/typed. Much easier to discuss than trying to mind read from a stratics post.

Click to expand...

1) They are not duplicating UO

2) If one sticks to only what is typed/said one misses a lot of sarcasm and humor and all sorts of other meaningful, informative and just plain fun stuff. I kinda feel bad for you

Does the game actually provide Dungeon Master toolkit? Like..edit and build worlds, place houses, customize things, add NPCs with triggers and dialog, etc?

Click to expand...

Is a good question. That is something they consider and my guess is yes. For alpha a simple dialogue kit for quests will be implemented.
GM powers are not set in stone but possessing monsters and so will be in. Almost anything concerning the game variables you can change with your own lua scripts. That goes from weapons damage to I think how monsters behave (AI) and so on.

This video explains a bit what can be done with the code

This one is better as it shows the editor in game

Such stuff will make planning quests a lot easier - I think player content can work - neverwinter nights showed it - no idea why ea never explored it more

VIPStratics Veteran

Considering all of us are former UO devs, and have a real love for UO, the game is heavily inspired by many of our favorite things. That being said, there's also inspiration drawn from NWN, and some of the fun MOBA type games that we enjoy as well.
There will likely be some nostalgic feel for UO and NWN players, but beyond that are some significantly vast departures from not only those games, but the genre as a whole. If you're curios I do lurk around the stratics shard forum, or if you want to catch up on some of the discussions that have been going for a while, the community on our shardsonline.com forum is also very active.

Having been part of nearly all the play tests last year along with @Dermott of LS I can say I agree with everything he said. Sure it is pre-alpha and needs work, but the basics are there and feels like a much more playable game than those with larger budgets and more time spent. it also beats the pants off of most Early access games on steam.

The developers pretty much all of which have graced the UO team at some stage are amazing and very active in IRC and forums. They also are very open to discussions about the game and often joke than the community knows more about Shards Online than they do.. (Which is true by the way )

For those worried about the max players per-server they are estimates right not but even if that was max.. how many players are on even the busiest UO servers at one time? Plus you will be able to travel around various shards in a cluster via teleport.. Imagine Shard Swapping as standard...

I really have enjoyed the time I have spent on Shards Online and cannot wait to enjoy a lot more time testing and helping shame a game that gives me that Buzz UO used to..

Stratics Veteran

When I refer to old school feel I really mean old school Ultima (Ultima 6! Best game ever made) I still remember my pirated floppy disc of uo6 and had no manual so I could not answer the questions to leave Lord British's castle.... Without looking it up answer these
What doth Trolls Lack?
What part of the tangle vine doth put one to sleep?
How wert the headlesses produced?
What valued item canst one find near the spawning grounds of Hydras?
How doth Sea Serpents attack?
How canst one fend off Rotworms?
How doth Giant Squids cruch their prey?
Where hath images of the Silver Serpent been seen?
What art reapers remnants of?

(Some I knew more easily than others because I couldn't always find my Compendium when starting a game and ended up memorizing a few in the process... even almost 25 years later I can still rattle those off... my brain is weird.)

That's without digging out my Compendium. (EDIT: after grabbing my Compendium, a couple I was "not quite" on, and one I didn't answer I had the answer in mind but wasn't sure)

U6 was my first Ultima title and one of my favorites as well. I'm waiting to see how the Exult remake project works out, I just wish the 45 degree rotation addon didn't lag my system all to hell. Unfortunately, the original U6 is tiny (even worse than UO2d) on modern monitors and the UI (mainly sorting backpacks and interacting with containers) is a pain at first that it's tough to replay these days.

One of the reasons why I was quick to follow Draconi, Supreem, Logrus and crew with Shards was due to the great job they did with the SA expansion and how it really brought back the U6 feel the first time I walked in the area outside of Tomb of Kings in Ter Mur which is a tile-for-tile remake of the gargoyle area in U6.

Stratics is the oldest continually running MMORPG Fansite on the Internet. Founded in 1997 Stratics has served the Ultima Online Community for 18 years. We strive to provide the most complete social experience for Ultima Online players.